Turkish FM: With Cairo, we will lead new regional axis

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Turkey and Egypt could lead a new regional axis in the face of apparently
diminishing American influence, the Turkish foreign minister said Sunday, and
Israel is solely responsible for the deteriorating ties with its erstwhile
Mediterranean ally.

“This will not be an axis against any other country —
not Israel, not Iran, not any other country, but this will be an axis of
democracy, real democracy,” Ahmet Davutoglu told The New York
Times.

“That will be an axis of democracy of the two biggest nations in
our region, from the north to the south, from the Black Sea down to the Nile
Valley in Sudan,” he said, before departing for the United Nations to throw his
country's support behind the Palestinian statehood bid.

“For the regional
balance of power, we want to have a strong, very strong Egypt,” said Davutoglu,
who has visited the Egyptian capital five times since Mubarak's overthrow in
February. “Some people may think Egypt and Turkey are competing. No. This
is our strategic decision. We want a strong Egypt now.”

“Nobody
can blame Turkey or any other country in the region for its isolation,”
Davutoglu said of Israel. “It was Israel and the government’s decision to
isolate themselves.

And they will be isolated even more if they continue
this policy of rejecting any proposal," he said, referring to Jerusalem’s
refusal to apologize for the May raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla that killed
nine people.

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Last week Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was given a
hero's welcome on his visit to North Africa, enjoying a particularly hearty
reception in the Egyptian capital. Crowds thronged Erdogan’s car as it traveled
to the Egyptian parliament and Arab League headquarters, and the city’s highways
were dotted with billboard- sized portraits of the Turkish premier.

But
it is Davutoglu whom many analysts say has been behind Turkey’s transformation
from a staunch American and Israeli partner to a self-appointed leader of the
Muslim world.

Its new-found status is due in large part to the ruling AK
Party's confrontational foreign policy toward Israel, as well as its domestic
agenda of reinserted Islamic values into traditionally secular Turkish
politics.

Turkey, Davutoglu said, shares a “psychological affinity” with
the Arab world, which as the Ottoman Empire it ruled for four centuries from
Istanbul.

He said Egypt would become the focus of his government’s
efforts, as an older US-backed order consisting of Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia
and Hosni Mubarak-era Egypt begins to unravel.

Davutoglu projected his
country's $1.5 billion investment in Egypt to rise to $5 billion within two
years, and total trade to jump from $3.5 billion to $10 billion by 2015. Some
280 businessmen accompanied the Turkish delegation to Cairo, and Davutoglu told
the Times they had signed about $1 billion in contracts in a single
day.

Turkey’s top diplomat reserved some of his harshest words for its
neighbor and former ally Syria, whom he accused of lying and reneging on
promises to reform.

After meeting Bashar Assad last month, Davutoglu said
the Syrian president had agreed on a road map, including setting parliamentary
elections, allowing multi-party rule and drafting a new constitution. Despite
Assad's assurances, he said, the Syrian leader did not follow
through.

“For us, that was the last chance,” he said, accusing Assad of
“not fulfilling promises and not telling the truth.”

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